Gates Foundation Grants $10 Million for GM Crops

The Gates Foundation awarded a $10 million grant last week to the John Innes Centre in Norwich to develop GE crops for use in Sub-Saharan Africa. The grant is to be used for the development of nitrogen-fixing corn, wheat, and rice, so that these crops would no longer need fertilizers. This decision has received much criticism from supporters of agroecological farming methods, and Mariam Mayet of AW partner the African Centre for Biosafety said:

“GM nitrogen fixing crops are not the answer to improving the fertility of Africa’s soils. African farmers are the last people to be asked about such projects. This often results in the wrong technologies being developed, which many farmers simply cannot afford. We need methods that we can control aimed at building up resilient soils that are both fertile and able to cope with extreme weather. We also want our knowledge and skills to be respected and not to have inappropriate solutions imposed on us by distant institutions, charitable bodies or governments.”